


not a problem at all

by hamjay



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Batfamily (DCU), Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Deaf Character, Disabled Character, Feel-good, HOH character, Hard of Hearing Jason Todd, No Beta, hard of hearing bruce wayne, rated T for Jason's language, tagging deaf character though these characters because there is no HOH tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:53:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26869975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamjay/pseuds/hamjay
Summary: Bruce has just thing for Jason when his son crushes his hearing aids in a fight. Again.
Relationships: Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne
Comments: 9
Kudos: 162





	not a problem at all

**Author's Note:**

> Headcanon and self indulgence bring me here once again. Jason's got significant hearing loss from exposure to loud noises such as explosions and gun fire. Not sure if he had some of this before he died. But I imagine definitely at this age which is like 20. In canon Jason is a very proficient lip reader, though I will mention that nobody could possibly be that good in real life.  
> Jason also has memory loss due to PTSD and head trauma. But our boy makes it work when he can and practices self love when he can't :')

This is getting out of hand, Jason thinks to himself. He just wants to call it a night and go home already, but he’s got to finish this interrogation first. 

Red Hood cracks his knuckles and looms over the tied up henchmen. “Tell me where he’s hiding.”

“I don’t know!” he reads on one man’s lips, but can't hear it. The man's seated on the concrete, his wrists tied to those of two fellow goons. The others are cowering but this poor sucker has to face Jason’s mean mug straight on. “I swear… pleso ma l…” The guy is starting to blubber and his lips become pretty unreliable for a read.

Jason rolls his eyes, gaze landing on his smashed helmet a few feet away. What a shitty night for that to happen, a night when he’s without his hearing aids because they’d been thoroughly crushed earlier that week on patrol. “God…” Jason drags one gloved hand down his face in frustration. 

“Shut up shut up shut up,” he says, waving the hand at the sobbing guy until he stops trying to blubber out more pleading nonsense. The guy watches while Jason sighs and gets on one knee right in front of the man. The other two goons are straining to look at what’s happening, wondering if they’re next. If they’d been in his way two years ago Jason would have shot them outright and been done with it. But he’s trying a different approach these days.

“You look like a fresh one...this your first job as muscle?” Jason asks the crying man who nods quickly up and down. He can see the other two henchmen may be scared pissless but they haven’t started begging like this guy, seasoned criminals who would probably like to skin this newbie for playing Red Hood’s little game now. “You got a family?” Another nod, and a trembling lip. “God, you newbies are all the same.”

Jason shifts on his knee and bites his lip for a moment. Then he starts in. “I need you to work with me, here. Don’t worry about retribution from these assholes, they’re going to jail tonight,” Jason promises. Whether or not they get bail is another question, but it’s the image of security he’s trying to instill in this guy. “So if you cooperate with me I will let _you_ go and you can go home to your daughter or your wife or your gramma, I don’t give a shit who’s waiting for you. That sound good to you?” 

The man nods and starts blubbering immediately but zips up his mouth when Jason snarls at him. “Stop! God. Now…” Jason sighs and motions at his own head. “I’ve got a bit of a hearing problem. Might be from shootin’ these babies for too long,” he says smuggly, patting the pistol on his thigh. It makes one of goons in the back take a hard swallow. “But a problem nonetheless and your buddies here got lucky and smashed my extremely helpful helmet. I’m gonna need you to. _Speak. Clearly_. Can you do that for me? Good. Take a deep breath.”

So the henchman takes a calming breath and starts talking. Jason stares right at his mouth. “Little louder, pal,” Jason encourages him, wants to get the information _right_ so he doesn’t have to do this twice. With Jason’s short term memory, it helps if he can hear it too. The guy starts projecting and though it’s like hearing through a thick pane of glass, it helps him feel more confident. Now it’s up to his stupid brain to remember all that information since he’s got no video/audio recording from the helmet to play back when he inevitably forgets this shit later.

Jason nods when the man finishes and keys his belt for police pickup at his location as he stands.

“...ey ood!” one of the others shouts at him, obviously unhappy about getting the short end of this deal tonight. Jason stalks over to him, glaring, _needing_ an excuse to _hit_ something. “This loud enough for ya?!” Jason reads. The guy tugs at his bonds until he can defiantly flip Red Hood off.

Jason doesn’t hear the crack of his fist on the man’s face, knocking him out cold, but _feels_ it up to his shoulder. 

He’s standing over the three of them, grinning wildly. “Whew, that felt good.” Jason shakes out his hand as if the punch could have possibly hurt through his armored glove, and spins away. 

True to his word, Red Hood let’s the cooperative muscle go before the cops arrive, and makes a split for it himself just before they get on the scene. If he’d had his gear Jason would have followed up on the info that night, but instead he takes the remains of his helmet back home and just puts himself to bed after a hot shower. Nothing more he can do tonight.

Stupid, he thinks. Just another stupid night of many. Jason lays awake in the dark, staring at the square of pale blue light the window casts on his ceiling. Feels like he’s forgetting something…

“Shit.” He grabs his laptop off the nightstand and quickly makes notes about the info he’d gotten while it’s still fresh. Jason’s memory had almost screwed him, like he’d hoped it wouldn’t. But he gets it all down and feels more confident about the case when he closes the laptop and puts it aside. The dog at the foot of the bed shifts around a little in her sleep.

Jason checks his phone, squinting against the light of it. There’s some good jokes going on in the group chat, enough to make him smile a little and lift the self deprecating weight that he’d slowly been drawing over himself all night, like a familiar blanket.

He’ll fix this. Not like he’s never smashed his hearing aids before. Constantly dropping them, losing them, crushing them- wonders if Bruce has this problem too. Knows Bruce will understand that he's frustrated...

Decides to text him since it seems like sleep isn’t quite at Jason’s door yet. It’s only 4am, Bruce should be back in the cave by now, writing reports.

Jason: _lousy night tonight :/_

Jason: _no hearing aids rn and helmet got smashed_

Jason: _what do you use? BatAids?_

That should be enough, Bruce will get the idea. Without the personalized audio feed in Jason’s helmet, and no hearing aids, that’s enough to make any night a lousy one, like he’s said. 

It takes five minutes but Bruce must not be totally consumed by his work, because he texts back.

B: _As a matter of fact :)_

Jason: _really?? no shit…_

Jason: _ur not just talking abt the cowl extension, right?_

B: _No. I reinforced my aid design long ago. No more smashing. Also, better mic pick up and some specialized settings for patrol. Long battery life. Better communication with the cowl as well. Only the best from my R &D department._

Jason rolls onto his side and props the phone on the other pillow while he holds it and texts.

Jason: _That sounds pretty nice…_

In the cave, Alfred pauses at the computer bank and glances over the chat window Bruce has open with Jason. His mustache twitches into a smile. They tend to let Jason come to them, for tech. Special armor materials, upgrades, intel, comms, etc. It’s been made clear that Jason is welcome to all of it. And if Jason needs it, and can’t find it anywhere else, that’s when he’ll ask. This is more personal. Alfred knows Jason’s exhausted his own skills to make his helmet as helpful to him as possible for this exact need. He’s only happy that he and the boy’s father can bridge the rest of the gap for Jason. 

B: _I can give you the specs. Or make some for you. You also wear BTE so it will be easy._

Jason: _when can they be ready?_

B: _Two days. Then you have to configure them with your helmet._

Jason: _:D that’s sooner than my regular ones are being shipped!_

B: _Come by the cave Wednesday._

Jason: _I’ll come to the house_

Sitting up, Jason reaches out for Connie and enthusiastically rubs the dog’s shoulder in his giddiness. She yawns and huffs at being woken up, but it’s silent to Jason. “Girl I’m gonna get new hearing aids. I’m getting BatAids. Are you flipping kidding me?” He flops back on the bed, feeling like a huge weight has been taken off his chest. Jason rolls around a little before he can gather himself enough to text one last time. 

Jason: _thanks pops_

B: _You’re welcome._

The next day Jason sends off his case info to Dick, feeling like he’s better off waiting until he has his brand new pimpin’ hearing aids to do any moonlighting and that his brother can tie up these loose ends for him.

Bruce does send him the specs for the hearing aids, and Jason gets to work on another helmet, modifying the audio channels to support the new aid model and tech. When Bruce texts him, asking what color Jason wants, it warms his heart. Black in the back, he replies, with a clear hook. 

On Wednesday he brings the helmet with him to the manor. When Bruce asks what happened to his old pair Jason tells him about getting caught off guard without his helmet on and some wrestling knocked them off. “Rolled over them a few times,” Jason signs while they eat lunch.

“I’ve done that plenty of times.” Bruce chuckles at his own expense. 

In the cave, in the workshop, they easily make the final touches and fit them on Jason. Some configurations with the helmet follow.

Things are good with Bruce. Jason likes this. It’s one more thing that he doesn’t have to do on his own, something else someone _understands_ , that doesn’t make Jason feel like a complete loner and screw up. The goddamn Batman is standing here with him, handing over Jason’s new hearing aids. Maybe Bruce can’t help him with everything, but that’s not what Jason wants anyway.

It’s just that, when Jason _does_ want help, he finds answers in his dad. And it heals little parts of him each time.

**Author's Note:**

> I've only got mild hearing loss from exposure and I'm just writing what I know and what I like. Please correct me if you can because I do not use hearing aids and I do not speak ASL, and just want to write a fic for HOH folk.
> 
> Kudos and comment are greatly appreciated. I hope you're well.


End file.
